The Arab League on Wednesday urged the United Nations to intervene immediately to stop the fighting that has raged between US-led coalition troops and Iraqis in many cities over the past four days.
"The Arab League is asking the United Nations to intervene immediately to save the situation on the humanitarian level," said Hossam Zaki, the spokesman of Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa.
Mussa "calls for stopping the operations of violence in Iraq, to lift the siege imposed on cities and stop provocation against civilians," said Zaki, quoted by the Egypt's state-run news agency MENA.
He stressed that the Arab League is following the situation with "extreme concern."
"Iraq needs a radical solution which could help it recover its sovereignty, end the foreign occupation and allow the United Nations to play the main role in administering Iraq," Zaki said.
At least 136 Iraqis and 20 soldiers of the US-led coalition have been killed since Sunday.
Coalition troops have been fighting not only supporters of radical Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr in Iraq's southern cities and Baghdad but also Sunni Muslim insurgents in Fallujah and other places, west of Baghdad.